Other Food Allergies

CAP - RAST test

My son is 2 3/4 and his peanut allergy was just confirmed. He reacted, to our dismay and shock, to peanuts when we took him for skin testing for enviromental allergies. We had no idea he had any food allergies. His blood test showed a 3 on the CAP - RAST test. Can anyone tell me actually how severe this really is? His IgE was also well above 200.

I was told that a 14 or greater indicates a >than 95% chance of having a reaction. 3 is not very high, but with PA you just never know. They would probably consider doing a food challenge with this number. My dr. told me if it was 5 or lower he would look at doing a food challenge. Kids that grow out of the PA are usually with 5 or below.My daughter's was 70 so she is not a candidate for the food challenge. Hope this helps.

Since posting this, I have found out that my son is a class 3 on the CAP Rast test. This is a high enough number that he needs to avoid peanuts. I am not sure how this correlates to the skin testing, but I was told the only way to know for sure if there is a true allergy is to blood test. You obviously would not want to do a food challenge, because that would be exposing him to the allergen. By skin testing, you are exposing him to the allergen as well. I would ask your doctor to do blood tests to see what level of allergen is in his blood.

We just got Isaiah's first cap rast results. It is a 2 on a scale from 1-6.He has always( since 18 months) been a 4+++ on skin test. The doctor wants him to continue strict avoidance for another year. I am wanting to be relieved a little but still a little confused. When they ordered test it was to reassure him on his severity or lack of severity. He was having panic attacks if he thought he might have touched anything that could even contain trace amounts. That he would know for instance if he could be in same room with peanuts being eaten or could touch and not have reaction. Well now that results are in we still don't know the for instances. Just to continue avoiding. Any information to help explain to 8 year old?

I don't think this is an easy question to answer. My son was a class 3 on all of his, but the doctor wanted to avoid egg and peanut and do a challenge with milk. He failed the first challenge miserably. I tell you this to let you know that the blood tests don't necessarily give you all the answers you hope for. There is alot of good information you can order from this website about peanut allergy. I ordered the preschooler's guide to peanut allergy for my son. I think it was a good book for him, but he is not 8. I think an 8 year old could have a tough time if you let him. I think you need to make him aware of the situation and educate him, but not all children are touch or smell sensitive. My son can be in the room with another child who is eating a peanut butter sandwich, and he is fine. I will not, however, allow him to play with that child until they have washed their hands. I think it is a precaution that is worth taking. Has your son had any contact reactions besides the skin test? I have not read the book no nuts for me, but I think it is supposed to be for older children. I would definintly join FAAN and sign him up to get their newsletter. I would also check the support group boards section and see if there is a support group in your area. We just started one in my city, and it has been nice meeting other people who can answer questions for me. The doctors are not alot of help when it comes to avoidance of foods. They seem to avoid helping you at that point. I hope I have been able to help. Please let me know if I can answer any more questions for you.
Beth

Unfortunately, the only way to know how your child will react in any given situation is to challenge him in that way. Scary, I know. And I'm not saying you or anyone should do what I'm suggesting. I'm just stating fact. And, honestly, there's no way of knowing if he will react the same way every time. There are no absolutes with PA.

Let me share what we have done.

Our son had 2 ingestion reactions before we found out he was PA. Obviously, from that we knew to not let him eat peanut products. As time went on we noticed he would break out in hives from (suspected) contact. Before he started preschool we wanted to know for sure if he was contact reactive. The allergist put PB on his skin and within minutes he had hives on the site. So, now we know to avoid contact if at all possible. Our school has been great about this particular task. Before school started, we needed to know if our son could be in the cafeteria with all the PB smell lingering in the air. I took him to school at least twice during lunch and let him sit at the tables with the kids. He was fine, so right now we feel he's safe around the smell - at least in the school cafeteria.

I'm sorry I can't offer any reassurance to you for your 8yo son, except that maybe knowing that the way you're handling things so far has been working, so why change it? Predictions really can't be made with PA, but looking back to what has happened so far can be a big help.

I hope hearing about how we've handled things so far might help in some way.

Thanks Beth and Lam. I guess I should explain a little as to why this is just now coming up with him. We have home schooled and he just wasn't ever around peanut related anything. Last year he played baseball for the 1st time. He was worried on handling ball, patting hands with other team after game,etc. Then the cub scouts started and den mom loves her peanut nutty bars. And now we are in soccor and the snacks never end. That is the only thing that has changed. If he would have gotten a negative on cap ,I don't think I could ever feed him a peanut. Just too risky. It is the socializing concern for us. Thanks once again. Becky

The way we handle snacks is we just take them with us wherever we go. Drew has a lunchbox and a backpack. Depending on what where we are going, we take one or the other with a variety of things that he like and are "safe". I think if this works with a child his age, it would definitely work with your son. We also send his lunch and snacks to school in his lunchbox. No one at the school is allowed to feed him anything unless it comes from his lunchbox or backpack. We do the same thing at church. He is allergic to milk, and they give goldfish for snack in the nursery, so we send him teddy grahams or a box of cereal. We never have a problem with him feeling left out.